The Emory men's and women's cross country team flew to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Friday where Carnegie Mellon University will host the University Athletic Association Championships on Saturday. The championships will be held at Schenley Park, with the men's 8K starting at 11 a.m., followed by the women's 6K at noon.

The men's team is ranked 22nd in the country in in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Top 35 Poll, while the women hold down the 34th spot. In the men's field of teams, host Carnegie Mellon is the top-ranked team in the poll. The Tartans enter the meet ranked fourth, while the university of Chicago is ranked seventh. Ranked ninth is Washington University, which has won or shared seven of the past eight UAA titles. Case Western Reserve (20th) and NYU (28th) are both in the rankings heading into this weekend's championship as well.

In addition to the Eagles, five of the eight competing UAA women's teams are nationally ranked in the latest USTFCCCA Poll, including five-time defending Association champion Washington University, which is ranked second. Chicago is the other team in the women's field ranked inside the top-10, as they come in at seventh in the poll. University of Rochester (24th), Carnegie Mellon (26th), and NYU (35th) enter the championship also nationally ranked.

This weekend's race is the last time the Eagles will have the chance to compete before the NCAA South/Southeast Regional Championships on November 16th, where the stakes will be raised since the results of that meet determine which teams qualify for the right to participate in the NCAA National Championships.